E 286 
.R66 
1842 
I Copy 1 



HON. FREDERICK WHITTLESEY'S 



ADDRESS, 



DELIVERI^D JUIiY FOURTH, A. D. 1842. 



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Book ^\(^(^ 



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AN ■ ^^V 

ADDRESS, 

DELIVERED AT WASHINGTON SQUARE, 

ROCHESTER, 

JVL.Y FOVRTH, A. D. 1§43, 

BY 

/ 

/ 

FREDERICK WHITTLESEY. 



ROCHESTER : 

PRINTED BY DAVID HOYT, 6, STATE-STREET. 
1842. 



\1^ 






HON. F. WHITTLESEY, 

Dear Sir : 

We were much giatitied with llie akje and eloquent address, delivered by 

.you this day, and have no doubt the general perusal of it by our Citizens^ 

would be higlily satisfactory, and promotive of much good. 

Will you favor us with a copy for publication ? 

Very respectfully, 

Yours, &c. 
Rochester, July 4, 1842' 

J. K. LIVINGSTON, 

JONATHAN CHILD, 
JACOB GRAVES, 
ARIST. CHAMPION, 
THOMAS KEMPSHALL, 

C.A.JONES, President 
Washington Temperance Society, 



Gentlemen : 

As you seem to sui)pose that the publication of the address, 
delivered by me on the 4th instant, mil be productive of good, I do not 
hesitate to furnish you with a copy, for the purpose indicated in your note. 

Yours, very respectfully, 

F. WHITTLESEY. 

Rochester, July G, 1842. 

James K. Livingston, Esq. and others. 



ADDRESS. 



Fellow Citizens, 

The document which you have just heard read, is that which 
made these United Slates an Independent Nation. By that act, a 
whole people abjured an allegiance which they had owned for one 
hundred and fifty years, and claimed admission into the great family 
of nations as an equal. The deliberations of that American Con- 
gress, by which this act was adopted, must have been of a character 
most deeply interesting. The Colonies knowing the subject of their 
deliberations, must have looked for their decision v/ith an anxiety 
most intense. The day on which it was adopted, was one- of high 
and solemn thought; of deliberate and stern purpose; of lofty and 
high-souled patriotism. The responsibiliues which its signers as- 
sumed ; the perils in which they stood ; the dangers which they 
dared ; the momentous interests which were at stake, and the high 
hopes by which they were encouraged, must have given to the time 
and the transaction a grave, stern, and solemn character. Their 
thoughts must have been busy with the future, to which this act 
of theirs was to give a marked character; and we can well conceive 
that shadowy forebodings of evil, and bright hopes of a glorious 
good alternately crossed their mental vision as they strained to shape 
out the destiny of that day's work. They did not know that they 
could make their declaration good; but they took no counsel from 
timidity ; and in the hope of giving their country freedom, they af- 
fixed their names to that instrument, which might have led them to 
death upon the scaffold, with firm reliance upon the justice of God 
and the energy of their countrymen. The act itself was one of de- 
liberate and hardy courage, and bravely was it sustained by a coura- 
geous and patriotic people. It was followed by a long, weary, and 
wasting war, in which foreboding fears and brightening hopes alter- 
nated with the reverses and triumphs of the many battle fields. 
The patience — the endurance — the courage and the patriotism of 
the people were taxed to the utmost by the deprivation, the suffer- 
ing', the imprisonments, and the thousand evils which follow in the 
train of a desolating war. But our ancestors were stern and deter- 
mined men ; they yielded to no despair, even when the hopes of 
the nation were at the lov/est, and live or die, survive or perish, 
they were resolved to make the declaration of their chosen Congress 
good, even in the face of the overshadowing power of Britain. The 
pledge which their Congress had given, the people determined to 
redeem at every hazard and every sacrifice; and nobly did they 
redeem it, and consecrated, by their triumph in a protracted strug- 
gle, that day, upon which this solemn pledge was published to the 



world. That day should be honored in all coming time, by the whole 
people of this great Republic. Meet is it that its anniversary should 
be set apart as a great national festal day. Meet is it that it should 
be commemorated by every demonstration of joy and thanksgiving, 
which it is in the power of a free and happy people to devise. Meet 
is it that we should assemble together to mingle our feelings of ex- 
ultation and gratitude, and renew our grateful offerings of praise to 
the memory of those patriots of seventy-six, who have left us this 
glorious heritage of freedom which we now enjoy. 

The act was a momentous one — momentous to the individuals 
and people immediately affected by it, but vastly, O vastly more 
momentous in its consequences. It was not simply that it converted 
thirteen dependent colonies into an independent nation, and added 
another to the nations of the earth ; but it was chiefly that the go- 
vernment, of which the foundations were thus laid, was based upon 
principles unknown and unrecognized by any of the then existing 
civil communities of the world. At that day, in all the civilized na- 
tions of the earth, the privileged classes were fenced about with the 
doctrine of hereditary rights, and the right to govern descended like 
any other heritable property, leaving the people no choice in the 
selection of their rulers, and none, or a very feeble and inadequate 
voice, in making the laws which they were forced to obey. If the 
dynasty was changed by intrigue or violence — by concession or 
revolution, it brought no relief to the people — no amelioration of 
their condition — no accession to their rights ; but they were still 
the governed and the enslaved, without any control over the govern- 
ment by which they were ruled. 

The truths which were declared to be self-evident, by the Con- 
gress of 1776, that all men are created equal — that governments 
are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed ; that man is endowed with certain inalienable 
rights, were far from being recognized, as either self-evident or prac- 
tical truths, by the governments which, at that day, swayed the 
destinies of nations ; at least, if these propositions were deemed to be 
theoretically true, there was no practical application of them for 
the benefit of the mass, as their consent was inferred from their sub- 
mission, and their rights were supposed to be sufficiently guarded by 
the paternal care of a government, which was neither with them 
nor of them. The whole practical management of political com- 
munities seemed to suppose that the people were made for the go- 
vernment, and not the government for the people ; and though in 
the long lapse of previous centuries, among the strifes between the 
higher classes for the possession of power, the people were occasion- 
ally enabled to secure some valuable privilege as the price of their 
aid to one of the contending parties, yet they had not by far, even 
in the freest coimiry, as yet acquired the possession of all their in- 
born and priceless rights. The government contemplated to be 



framed upon the separation of the American Colonies from the 
mother country, and the creation of an independent poHtical com- 
munity, looked to a broader basis for its true origin, and a less ques- 
tionable authority for its power. 

The very instrument by which the ties of political connection 
with the parent country were severed, recognized tlie people as the 
true source of power, and acknowledged that the right was inhe- 
rent in them to frame their own government according to their own 
will, leaving it to their own judgment, to adapt its form to their 
own security and happiness. It was indeed farther supposed that 
the people themselves might be safely entrusted with the essential 
powers of government, and that there was a just propriety in leaving 
the ultimate power in their hands, to control their own agents, and 
thus to influence the legislation which was to prescribe a rule for all. 

It was a new and bold experiment in the history of political sci- 
ence. Though some philosophical dreamers had described, in 
glowing and poetical language, the beauty, simplicity, and happiness 
of a pure republic; where there should be no disturbances from the 
violence of passion ; no miseries from the oppression of power; no 
debasement from inequality of condition, yet it was considered as 
but the fanciful vision of an enthusiastic brain, and incapable of 
practical realization. However beautiful and however true in 
theory it might appear, it was not supposed that the capacity of 
man for self government, could ever be practically demonstrated by 
experiment. That experiment was, however, commenced by our 
patriot fathers, and we are now continuing it in these United States. 
It is yet too soon to pronounce with confidence that it has been de- 
monstrated by full success. Sixty years in the history of nations, 
is too brief a period to test the soundness of a principle so impor- 
tant in political science. The eyes of the wise and good in other 
lands are turned towards us with intense interest, and they mark 
our sometimes faltering steps with almost painful anxiety. 

The experiment itself was commenced under auspices most fa- 
vorable to its success. The mass of emigrants to the American 
Colonies were intelligent men. They left their native country to 
escape civil and religious persecution, and to secure the enjoyment 
of the largest freedom. Separated by an ocean of waters from the 
government which claimed their allegiance, they were necessarily 
thrown, in a great degree, upon their own resources for their own 
protection and government. The difficulties and hardships of a 
new settlement ; their frequent wars with a powerful and relentless 
foe ; the necessary efforts to subdue the forest, and wring a hard 
earned subsistence from a sterile soil, made them acquainted with 
all the stern realities of life, and gave vigor and hardihood to their 
character. They knew both their rights and their duties, and while 
they guarded the one with sleepless vigilance, they performed the 
other with the most punctual exactness. Their very position taught 



6 

tliem ilie necessity of obedience to just laws, and ITabituated them as 
well to a complete self reliance as ffreat self control. It is under 
such circumstances that the hardier and severer virtues have their 
growth, and when these are- connected with constant intellectual 
and moral culture, we can hardly conceive of better materials of 
which to make the frame work of a popular government. They 
would not resort to any dreamy visionary for theoretical views of 
government, but would find their rules in their practical acquain- 
tance with the realities of life. They would see the same necessity 
of repressing the disturbances of order as of resisting the oppressions 
of power. It was a people vi^hose characters were thus matured in 
the severe school of experience, and imbued with the liardy virtues, 
that commenced this bold and novel experiment in government. 
Indeed, the one hundred and fifty years of their colonial life may 
be looked upon only as an apprenticeship to the science of politi- 
cal self government, during wliich they so stored their minds with 
those treasures of knowledge and practical wisdom, and so schooled 
their tempers to obedience to proper restraints, as to enable them 
to play worthily their parts in the face of the world, when the great 
day of their emancipation came. They were, therefore, eminently 
prepared and fitted, by a long and severe discipline, to acquit them- 
selves well of the mighty responsibilities which they had assumed, 
after the crowning act which made them an independent people. 

A people who had thus been accustomed, in a great degree, to the 
management of their own aflliirs ; who had been practically trained 
by the necessities of their position, to guard and protect themselves ; 
whose wisdom had been ripened in the school of experience, and 
who had no ideas of any freedom which would spurn wholesome 
restraint, were the very people, if any can ever exist, who might be 
safely trusted with the high functions of sovereignty. It is very 
obvious that such a people would be far, far more likely to meet 
with success in an expei'iment of the kind to which we have allu- 
ded, than a people who had been kept in ignorance and debase- 
ment by the pressure of power, who neither knew their rights nor 
understood their duties, and who had not the practical capacity to 
distinguish between enlightened freedom and unbridled license. 
Free institutions can never flourish, except where the intellectual 
and moral soil has been long cultivated by intelligence and virtue. 
It would be idle to expect that an ignorant and debased people, 
€ven though they should succeed by physical violence in throwing 
ofi' the power which oppressed them, could pass at once to the en- 
joyment of rational freedom. They are not fitted by previous train- 
ing for the sober and discreet exercise of the rights of sovereignty ; 
and if all its powers were in their hands, it would require no prophet 
to predict, that free institutions planted in such a soil must wither 
and die ; and such a peo|)le would be forced to surrender them- 
selves to another despotism for protection against the' inevitable 
anarchy which must succeed. 



Tlie founders of our government were not such men. After their 
independence iiad been bloodily achieved and reluctantly acknow- 
ledged, they deliberately commenced to frame a government adapted 
to their condition, and most likely to secure their safety and happi- 
ness. This was not done heedlessly and hastily, but with the con- 
siderate deliberation, and prudent caution, suited to the momentous 
occasion. All the prudence and patriotism ; all the experience and 
sagacity and wisdom and virtue which the country could command, 
were called to the great work. The system was thus carefully 
framed with all the practical wisdom and ripe experience of our 
fevolutionary fathers. Every part and parcel was subjected to a 
sevelt} scrutiny and searching examination, both in the National 
Convention, the Legislatures of the different States, and by the 
people themselves. But, though finally adopted, it was sanctioned 
with doubt and hesitation, and even the cool, well-balanced and 
severely disciplined men of that day had anxious misgivings as to 
its success. 

It is but too probable, that if Washington had not been actuated by 
a loftier and nobler ambition, than ever governed any other mere 
human deliverer, that the experiment must even then have failed of 
success. There is reason to believe that he might have success- 
fully grasped at kingly or little less than kingly power, and like 
another Cromwell, tyrannized over a country he would not save. 
But Washington was too pure minded, disinterested, exalted to 
follow that path to power^ which all previous history shewed was 
open before him. He had been the deliverer of a nation in an ar- 
duous and protracted struggle for liberty, and with a rare modera- 
tion he left them in the enjoyment of that freedom which he had 
won for them, and with an exalted ambition, resisted the allure- 
ments of power, and aided in settling the institutions of the countryy 
upon the broad basis of republican equality. He descended to 
the level of his fellow citizens, nobly prefez'ring the happiness and 
freedom of his country to his own power. It is this which is the 
crowning glory of his life ; which has consecrated him as '^ Firss 
in the hearts of his Countrymen f^ and has filled all lands with his 
undying fame. The experiment thus commenced, even under 
such favorable auspices, with doubt and hesitation, was success- 
ful. It has been in successful operation for more than fifty years, 
and the hearts of miUions in far off lands have been made glad that 
we have been enabled, so far, practically to demonstrate the capa- 
city of man for self government. 

But as I have said before, the problem is not yet fully solved. 
Time enough has not yet elapsed to make the demonstration com- 
plete. Our fathers have done their part, nobly, gloriously done their 
part ; and it remains for us now to perform ours. We have not only 
a legacy of cherished rights, but a heritage of solemn duties. A 
trust has descended to us, to keep that pure which we have re- 



8 

ceived pure, and transmit it pure to poste/ity. We owe It to our 
fathers' fame and our own honor, that the great cause of human 
hberty shall receive neither spot nor blemish while under our guar- 
dianship. The great experiment must not fail in our hands, if we 
would not cover ourselves with deep disgrace, and blot out the 
hopes of millions of the great human family. It. may well be that 
free institutions, successfully established, by virtuous, intelligent 
and self-denying men, may be subverted by the vices, ignorance, 
selfishness, insubordination, and corruption of those who shall come 
after them. Careful, industrious, prudent, and prosperous fathevs, 
frequently are succeeded by profligate, dissipated and spendthrift 
sons, and the paternal glory of the house is dimmed by the vices of 
the child. 

The tendency of popular governments is ever towards licentious- 
ness, and they rush into anarchy and ruin from relaxing those neces- 
sary restraints of law and morality which a wise sovereign will 
impose to retain the political system within its proper orbit. This 
tendency can not be restrained, except by a clear perception of the 
necessity of established rules, a vigorous perseverance in enforcing 
them, and a cheerful obedience in yielding to their requirements. 
In a Republican government, these rules are in effect self-imposed, 
and it requires no little intelligence to perceive those which are 
essential, and no little of self-denying virtue both to create and 
regard the necessary restraints. It is therefore quite obvious, and 
the idea can not be too often repeated, that free institutions demand 
for their security and preservation the prevalence of general intel- 
ligence and practical virtue among the mass of the people. Upon 
them is cast the high responsibilities of sovereignty, and they can 
not creditably acquit themselves of the important trust, without 
understanding the nature and scope of the functions which they 
exercise, and without the virtue to exercise those functions pru- 
dently and wisely. We can well conceive that the condition of a 
people is deplorable who are governed by an ignorant, besotted, 
passionate and capricious ruler ; but we can well understand that 
the evils of such a government are nothing to the miseries inflicted 
by an ignorant, debased and corrupted people, who have all the 
power of sovereignty in their own hands. It is the difference be- 
tween one and a legion of evil spirits ; and that miserable people 
who have thus converted their blessings into curses, is happy if it 
can find refuge in the sternest despotism, from the anarchy and 
discord which they have themselves induced. To avoid the wreck 
which has been the fate of popular governments, constant and per- 
severing attention to the education and information of the people 
is indispensable. They can neither perform well or wisely the 
high functions of sovereignty, unless imbued with practical intelli- 
gence ; and hence it is the first duty of a Republic to provide for 
the education of its citizens. This is a duty of necessity imposed 



9 

by the great law of self-preservation. Unless you diffuse intelli- 
gence to the same extent that you confer power, you arm ignorance 
with weapons that may be used in blind but mischievous hostility 
to the best interests of society. The elective franchise is a dan- 
gerous power in the hands of ignorance ; and as that power has 
been given to the people, and as we neither can, nor wish, nor de- 
sire to say they shall not possess it, the duty becomes the more 
imperative upon us to see that there is comparatively no ignorance ; 
that the intellectual character of those who wield that power is ele- 
vated to such a standard that they may use it safely and wisely — 
for good, and not for evil. Our early fathers were probably better 
jStted to take upon themselves the responsibiUties of self-govern- 
ment than any other people. Their minds were filled with the 
contemplation of high and ennobling objects. Their great purpose 
was the enjoyment of civil and religious freedom ; and they wished 
this to descend as a blessed heritage to the people which should 
throng this continent. They saw that education was a necessary 
agent in the accomplishment of their purpose ; and with a rare wis- 
dom and considerate foresight, they early, and even before the forest 
was cleared from around their dwellings, made provision for disse- 
minating the blessings of education. This led to the establishment 
of a system of general education, by which successive generations 
have been enlightened, and which has come down to us, and which 
has been so cherished, so protected, and so improved, that its abun- 
dant blessings have been beneficially and widely diffused. If the 
population of these States had been confined to the descendants of 
our emigrant fathers, perhaps, in the Northern States particularly, 
the system would have perpetuated itself, with ordinary attention 
to its preservation. But there are circumstances connected with 
our political condition, which demand the exercise of unremitting 
diligence and persevering effort. Our laws hold out invitation to 
the stranger and the foreigner to come and abide with us ; to do- 
mesticate themselves in the great family of this Republic, and to 
partake equally with the rightful inheritors, of the benefits of our 
free institutions. After a brief probation, they are made children 
by adoption, and entitled to a common share in all the rights and 
advantages of the inheritance. This is a noble feature in our legis- 
lation, springing from a spirit of enlarged philanthropy, which holds 
out the offer, not only of shelter, refuge, and protection, but of the 
full rights of citizenship to the oppressed and down-trodden of 
other lands. Those who have embraced the offer according to its 
terms, are, by every principle of justice and equity, entitled to the 
full benefit of the promised advantages- Whatever one may think 
of the propriety and policy of such laws, the rights acquired under 
them can not be justly questioned ; and he who would attempt to 
sow* jealousies and dissensions between the native and adopted citi- 
zens, who would attempt to impair, in any degree, the privileges 

B 



10 

guarantied to the latter, would act as unwisely as he would unjustly. 
We are all made by law members of one great family, and it is evi- 
dently the part of wisdom and prudence to cultivate a spirit of kind 
feeling, union and harmony, rather than to stimulate one of jealousy 
and dissension. This circumstance casts upon us a new duty. 
The number of foreigners who have availed themselves of the be- 
nign and liberal provisions of our laws, is very considerable. They 
come from different countries, speak different languages, have been 
subject to different governments, have different habits, prejudices 
and modes of thought, and different grades of information and intel- 
ligence. There is nothing in common among them, except a com- 
mon craving for freedom ; and their ideas of what constitutes rational 
and enlightened freedom, are not perhaps as clear and perfect as would 
be desirable. All these heterogeneous materials have to be assi- 
milated in sympathy, thought and feeling, with the mass of the 
citizens and Americanized. All these strangers, so different in 
habits, language and prejudices, must be made Americans ; so that, 
in time, they and their children may be perfectly assimilated with 
the American people, retaining all that is good and valuable in their 
national peculiarities, and weeding out all that may prove evil and 
noxious to the general good order and happiness. Here is a field 
for education, which was not open to our fathers. Here is work 
for the school-master, beyond what our fathers had to perform — a 
work which requires time, unremitting attention, unrelaxing dili- 
gence. This is a work which demands kindness, patience and 
perseverance ; and even the very prejudices, national and religious, 
of these strangers must be judiciously and tenderly dealt with, and 
not rudely assailed or trampled upon. They and their children 
are, and are to be fellow citizens with us in this great Republic, 
entitled to the same rights and privileges, and subjected to the same 
responsibilities and duties ; and it is obviously a duty, as well of 
philanthropy as of necessity, to fit and elevate them, by the mental 
discipline of education, for the satisfactory enjoyment of their 
rights, and the worthy performance of their duties. Education in 
a Republic should be general, and embrace the entire mass ; and 
it is much more important that its rudiments should be universally 
diffused, than that the few should be deeply learned, while the mass 
are grossly ignorant. If the benefits of common schools can be 
carried into every family, the great desideratum in this respect will 
be accomplished ; and if this is done, we may perhaps safely trust 
to the intellect thus awakened, to push its researches into the deeper 
mysteries of learning, by the establishment of institutions of loftier 
pretensions. Much has been done — but loo much can not be done, 
to encourage and perpetuate a system of general educadon ; and 
we trust the time will ere long arrive, when every citizen and every 
child of this Republic will be taught at least the common rudi- 
ments of learning. 



11 

The work, however, is not fully complete by merely furnishing 
food to the mind. There must be a moral training, as well as in- 
tellectual culture. The heart must be improved, as well as the 
head informed ; and the substantial virtues must be nourished to 
grow and blossom and bear fruit in this great field of human hopes. 
Industry, frugality, prudence, courage, justice, obedience to law, 
and love of order were among the virtues which stamped the cha- 
racter of our emigrant fathers, and enabled them to lay broad and 
deep the foundations of the great edifice of our liberty. These 
virtues, homely and rugged though they appear, are yet essential 
to the strength, security and permanence of Republican institutions ; 
and we may be certain, that so far as we lose respect for, and relax 
the practice of such essential virtues, just so far are we advancing 
in our progress towards corruption and decay. 

Neither can it be amiss here to say, that the teachings of religion 
have an important and intimate connection with the preservation of 
our civil rights, and the performance of our civil duties. The 
New Testament furnishes the most perfect code of morals that has 
ever been published to man. Its beautiful and comprehensive mo- 
rality is adapted tcr all ranks and conditions of society ; to all the 
relations, civil, social or domestic, of life, and to all the changing 
circumstances of an ever changing world. It teaches the true dig- 
nity of man, and the proper purposes of life, and points out the 
path by which they may most certainly be attained. It inculcates 
a genuine and exalted self respect, not inconsistent with the meek- 
ness and humility demanded by our erring nature. It breathes of 
charity, good will, disinterestedness, philanthropy, love and peace ; 
and any one who will strive to square his life by its simple rules, 
whatever may be his rewards hereafter, will feel himself here to be 
a better and a happier man. It teaches the practical duties of life, 
and the wisdom which should guide our daily conduct ; and where- 
ver its doctrines have been taught in their purity and simplicity, it 
has ever been found an important ally in the great cause of human 
liberty. The great cause of Christian morality should, then, ever 
find countenance and support from the citizens of a free Republic. 
It will pay back to them for the aid they give, order, peace, virtue 
and harmony. I have ever thought that the institutions of reli- 
gion, considered merely as civil institutions, and the constant and 
unremitting teachings of the morality of the New Testament, were 
a great and essential support and safeguard of the civil institutions 
of a free government. I have ever thought that the spread of the 
Bible, and the diffusion of the Gospel of Christ, should be en- 
couraged and promoted by every patriot and lover of his country, 
for its benign and salutary influence upon "its political institutions. 
Thank God ! there is here no ill-assorted connection between 
Church and State. Thank God ! there is no human power that 
can here prescribe to me what shall be my religious belief. I would 



12 

not that there should be any such connection, or any such power- 
True reh'gion rejects the one, and repudiates the other. But cer- 
tainly, the teaching of the pure and practical morality of the Gos- 
pel, as it is here taught, independent of the civil power, and without 
authority to enforce modes of belief or forms of faith, can not fail 
to make us better citizens, and exercise an important, benign, and 
healthful influence upon the whole frame of society. 

Fellow Citizens : You will readily admit that intelligence and 
virtue are the necessary and essential props of free institutions. 
You will also readily admit that it is the consequent duty of all who 
regard the common good, and desire the permanence of our insti- 
tutions, to aid in disseminating intelligence and promoting virtue. 
The virtues which strengthen, and the vices which undermine poli- 
tical communities, increase in their influence by their practice or 
indulgence, until they finally attach to, and make part of, national 
character. We thus find characteristics, historically or tradition- 
ally, attributed to nations, stamping upon them, by common consent, 
a national character, which, however well or ill deserved, of necessity 
affects our opinion of them ; and perhaps the impression remains long 
after the nation has ceased to deserve its acquired reputation. The 
American people are certainly not insensible to their national repu- 
tation. They have been accused of a too overweening sensitive- 
ness upon this subject. I must suppose that they feel a proud 
desire (for it is an honest and praiseworthy purpose) to establish a 
high and exalted national character upon a basis which will endure. 
This nation is yet young, and has its character, in a great degree, 
yet to form. It has the advantage of youth in this, that the wounds 
inflicted by national vices are sooner healed by a radical reform, 
without so injuriously afi^ecting the national moral constitution, 
while it possesses a ductility which makes it more easily moulded 
by healthy influences, and more readily accessible to wholesome 
reforms. We can not shut our eyes to the fact, that there are some 
vices which are so generally indulged, that they are attaching to 
our national reputation, and thus, in our career of early youth, gi- 
ving a shade to our national character, which we should blush to 
think we deserved — vices, too, which not only sully our reputation 
abroad, but sap the very foundations of our prosperity and happi- 
ness at home. Among vices of this class, I need now name only 
intemperance, which there is too much reason to fear has been fas- 
tening upon our national character its blackening and degrading 
stain. I need not describe the evil influence of such a reputation. 
Our pride would revolt at the bare idea that it could be justly at- 
tached to the American name, and we should hang our heads for 
very shame if we thought that it truly belonged to the American 
character. I hope and trust that it never could, and never can be 
truly said, that this is an American national vice. I hope and trust 
so, not only in deprecation of the degradation of character it would 



I 



13 

induce, but on account ol the prosperity, happiness and freedom 
of these United States, it would destroy. To say nothing of the 
waste of property, the burthen of taxes, the wreck of fortunes, the 
ruin of happiness which it produces, the loss of self respect, the 
mental imbecility, the moral degradation which attend indulgence, 
impair the boasted capacity of man for self government, and loosen 
the very key-stone of the fabric of our political freedom. I need 
not waste time, to demonstrate to the audience which I see about 
me, that the general prevalence of this vice in a free government, 
must add to the loss of property and character, the loss of freedom ; 
to the destruction of national prosperity and happiness — the wreck 
of liberty and the ruin of the brightest hopes which ever gladdened 
the heart of man. This vice cannot become general and national, 
without tracing its origin to individual cases, as it is the number of 
individual cases which must give it a national character. Where 
the vice commences, there must the reform begin ; and the com- 
mon duty of promoting virtue among the people, can only be pro- 
perly discharged by individual reform. This has been nobly begun 
from high and patriotic motives, and a spirit has gone forth in the 
land, which has done much, very much to gladden the heart of the 
philanthropist, and holds out a glorious promise of a nation re- 
deemed from the evils of intemperance. All experience teaches 
that there is but one safe and certain remedy, and that is total ab- 
stinence from all that can intoxicate. This will alike redeem the 
confirmed inebriate, save the occasional drinker, and preserve the 
purity of him who has never sinned. The only security for total 
abstinence, to him who is at all tempted, is a pledge before man 
of adhesion to that determination, that when the hour of tempta- 
tion comes, the pride of fidelity to the pledge may arouse all the 
manhood within him to a successful resistance. Let no one, in vain 
confidence in the strength of his resolution, say that no such pledge 
is necessary. Let no one dare to say that he has firmness enough 
to resist temptation, without putting his honor in gage that he will 
not oftend. How many are there who have resolved and re-resolved, 
and made the strongest mental self promises to abstain, who, upon 
the first occasion, with slight excuse or no excuse, and without even 
any goading of appetite, to urge them on, have indulged, and in- 
dulged until they blush in solitude for very shame at the impotency 
of such resolutions. Who is there who can set bounds to an ex- 
cited appetite, or put a curb upon aroused passions, and say, thus 
far shalt thou go and no farther? He who attempts it will find, too 
late, that they are too strong for his control, and that they will rush 
with him to his ruin. 

lean need no apology for introducing this subject here upon a 
national festal day. It were an unprofitable employment of time, 
merely to commemorate the great deeds of our ancestors, and 
glorify our own greatness, and power and freedom, without probing 



14 

the vices which may dim our greatness, impair our power, and sap 
the foundations of our freedom. It is a matter of congratulation, 
that there are those, and many, who are earnestly engaged in that 
cause of noble philanthropy which would redeem our whole popu- 
lation, of all grades and classes, and sexes and conditions, from the 
thraldom of a debasing appetite, and lead them back through the 
path of a redeeming abstinence to the freedom of restored health, 
unclouded intellect, and the quiet but abounding enjoyments of a 
temperate life. Their purpose and object is highly patriotic and 
praiseworthy ; and I doubt not, they have our united best wishes 
for the most triumphant and universal success of their self-sacrificing 
exertions. 

As a nation and as individuals, our fame and our happiness, our 
glory and our freedom, require us to throw off this evil of intem- 
perance, as our revolutionary fathers threw off the yoke of the 
British King. They, with a far-sighted sagacity, resisted the first 
encroachments of power. They scented oppression in the distance, 
and repelled its first insidious advances. They did not wait until 
their vigor was crushed and energies broken by the oppression of 
power, but took up arms before the fetters which were forging for 
them, were placed upon their free limbs. So should we repel this 
evil, and like our fathers, resist its approach before our vigor is 
palsied by its withering influence. We may say, inthe language 
of the Declaration of Independence, that intemperance has, by a 
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariaby the same 
object, evinced a design to reduce us under absolute despotism, 
and it is our right and our duty to throw it off and provide new 
guards for our future security. The catalogue of grievances 
which it has inflicted upon us, is longer and more galling than that 
charged upon the British King. It has at least burthened us with 
taxes — harassed our people, and eat out their substance, and has en- 
deavored to bring upon us hordes of merciless enemies to involve in 
an undistinguished destruction, all ages, sexes, and conditions. 
And we are called upon by every high inducement of patriotism, 
character and religion, to do as our fathers did, and with the same 
firmness of purpose, and the same reliance upon the Supreme 
Judge of the world, to declare ourselvesy)'ce and independent, and 
to pledge to that declaration our lives and sacred honor. 

You will perceive that I have invited your attention to the neces- 
sity of the performance of those duties, and the cultivation of 
those virtues which are interwoven with the common and daily 
concerns of life. It is only upon great and rare occasions, that 
peculiar sacrifices and extraordinary exertions are demanded of 
our citizens by the exigences of the country. In such emergen- 
cies, I have no misgivings, no fear, and no doubt as to the conduct 
of our people. They will rally, with all tlie spirit of our fathers, 
and all the patriotic ardor of freemen, to repel invasion, resist ag- 



I 



15 

gressioii, or meet tlicir country's foes. They will freely devote 
their lives, and give their best blood to vindicate their country's 
honor or rights on the field of battle. I have no fear for my coun- 
try in such emergencies. The energy and vigor and courage, in- 
herent in a youthful country of such cherished recollections and 
proud history, will then be put forth, and will be found ample for our 
defence and protection. The citadel of our freedom will never be 
carried by storm by any foreign foe, however powerful. I more 
fear the sap and mine of prevalent immorality and spreading licen- 
tiousness ; and against these the only certain safeguard is the dis- 
semination of intelligence, and the culture of moral virtue. The 
duties thus imposed are cast upon all, to be discharged in our indi- 
vidual capacity, and demanding constant and unremitted attention. 
Those duties and those virtues which are brought into action in all 
the daily concerns of life, have the most important influence upon 
our social condition, and necessarily upon our general security and 
happiness. Persevering watchfulness and assiduous attention are 
demanded, with a view to form and perpetuate the moral habits 
necessary to the support of government, and to the transmission of 
the blessings of our political and social condition to our posterity. 
It is here that I most fear a failure ; for it is here that the evil steals 
upon us most insidiously, and it is here that vigilance is most ex- 
posed to be lulled into a fatal security. 

Ours is not a military government. There Is a wholesome and 
general jealousy of a permanent standing army, which history is 
full of warning to show, may be the instrument, in the hands of a 
popular leader, to destroy the liberty of a country. We rely upon 
the same citizens who wield the power of the country by their 
votes, and sustain it by their contributions, to defend its liberties 
and Its rights In the field. They thus act in the double capacity 
of citizens and soldiers ; and we may justly expect of them cou- 
rage to defend their own rights, and fidelity to guard their own 
liberties. They can be trusted with the defence of their country 
in time of danger, as it is their own homes and hearths, their own 
families and firesides, which they are to guard and protect. They 
will not fail to remember, that while they are preparing themselves 
by soldierly discipline for the active duties of that profession, that 
they are also citizens, and owe a paramount obedience to the laws. 
It is to be constantly borne in mind, both by citizens and soldiers, 
that in this country the laws are supreme ; and that any general in- 
subordination to law, any concerted disturbance of order, any mobs 
or riots for any purpose, any unauthorized assumption of the func- 
tions of law, to mete out punishment without Its sanction, Inflicts 
a wound upon the constitution, and a stain upon the reputation of 
free government, ^hlch Is not readily healed, or easily effaced. 

It is to be remembered, too, that as we resent foreign interfe- 
rence In our own internal affairs, so we should not officiously con- 



16 

nect ourselves with the affairs of other nations. We should me(e 
out to them the same justice which we demand for ourselves ; and 
if we wish to impress them with the advantages of a free govern- 
ment, we can best do it by the example of the quiet and orderly 
conduct of our own. Above all, let us cherish fidelity to the Union 
so happily and gloriously consummated by the wisdom of our fa- 
thers, and suffer no unworthy jealousy, dissension or discord to 
loosen those bonds, or sunder those ties which have made us one 
nation and one people. 

Fellow Citizens : Our fathers have passed away. It is their 
fame which has made this great festal day the proudest in the ca- 
lendar of our Republic ; and while a grateful nation shall continue 
to honor it in all coming time, their renown will come along with 
it — so that the glory of their lives shall not fade from the remem- 
brance of men. To them, under God, we are indebted for the 
many blessings of our political and social condition. They earned 
for themselves the possession of the noblest inheiitance which earth 
can boast — an estate of mental and political freedom. This rich 
inheritance has descended to us as a legacy from sainted sires. 
We are charged with the duty of handing it down, untarnished and 
unimpaired, to posterity. We look forward, with a prophetic eye, 
towards the future, and see the teeming millions which swarm this 
continent ; we see the surface of numerous States dotted with cities 
and villages — busy commerce thronging the crowded avenues of 
trade, and whitening with its sails every lake and every ocean ; we 
behold a countless multitude of human beings possessing the land 
and the fatness thereof; we perceive ev^ery sign and indication of 
a dense population, great prosperity and high refinement; but with 
all this, if the people are corrupted, their chief glory has departed. 
All this may come, and all these outward signs of prosperity may 
present themselves to the eyes of our descendants in the next cen- 
tury ; and yet if we are false to our high and sacred trust, the light 
of happiness and the glory of liberty may be extinct. The hoj)es 
of unboin millions hang upon our fidelity to the tenure by which 
we hold our glorious estate, and our performance of the essential 
conditions in the great title deeds of this heritage of freedom, by 
the diffusion of intelligence, and the practice of virtue. 



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